Note: The article is co-authored by Ankita Sagar, Senior Manager – People Happiness, and Karamveer Verma, Associate Lead Content Writer at Gramener.
We all have realized by now the severity of the pandemic that we are going through. Businesses and economies have slowed down to quite an extent. Being locked up in our homes, at times away from loved ones, for more than a year has posed a unique challenge. It’s not easy to stay calm during one of the most testing times in human history.
Despite some of the harsh realities that we all witnessed ever since the deadly COVID-19 pandemic began, stories of incredible transformations, the power of community, and great acts of humanitarianism have surfaced too. At Gramener, we took every step to ease the situation for our employees and care for their physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing.
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The Show Must Go On
We have encouraged all our employees to work from home (WFH) across all locations since March 2020. As soon as the pandemic hit, we helped our employees transition to remote working and continuously shared business updates with our clients.
We extended our support to our employees by creating a one-of-its-kind COVID Emergency Response Team! SPOCs from various Gramener locations provided important information on government guidelines and medical facilities. In addition, daily stand-up calls by the ERT team helped assess the evolving ground situation to recommend the right policy actions. Our work has also been recognized by a newspaper in India.
Gramener has actively contributed to society during these times of turmoil with donations of around 1L INR. We helped an isolation center governed by the Telangana facility management council and GHMC by supplying Oxymetres and other medical equipment. Additionally, we distributed medicines for poor people in coordination with the Commissioner of Police, Sajjanar at Hyderabad.
We are In It Together
The correct information and resources at the right time, especially in these pandemic times can help save numerous lives. Every bit of information regarding testing centers, hospital-bed availability, and vaccination drives regularly gets uploaded on our company’s intranet wiki under Gramener’s COVID-19 Readiness Plan. Additionally, we enabled Doctor-on-call teleconsultation service for all employees and their family members.
Seamless Communication at Every Step
We received positive feedback from our employees for transparent and proactive communication during satisfaction and exit surveys. Our company releases periodic work from home advisory, which helps employees manage their stays and improve productivity in times of crisis.
Some of the information that we issued out regularly include:
- Periodic update on the count of employees who tested positive and recovered.
- Safety protocols and COVID-19 precautions to be maintained.
- Awareness campaigns to encourage COVID-19 appropriate behaviour.
- Monthly updates and quarterly All Hands Meet to share our company growth, outlook, and COVID-19 preparedness by leadership team etc.
Lending a Helping Hand
We took every measure possible to ease the pain that some of our employees faced. Through our COVID-19 assistance program, we extended support to employees and also their family members who tested positive.
Here’s a List of Initiatives We Took
- Assigning SPOC from the COVID ERT team who stays connected to check the wellbeing of the employee/family.
- COVID-19 Sick Leaves in addition to annual leave eligibility.
- Financial Assistance to help impacted employees.
- COVID-19 Caregiver Leave to support employees who are taking care of the affected family member.
- COVID-19 Bereavement Leave.
- Gramener COVID-19 Insurance Program for employees & spouses.
And This Too Shall Pass
In unity lies our strength, and everybody working at Gramener is deeply committed to helping one another in every way possible. We launched the Gramener Employee Assistance Program for mental wellbeing and online counseling support at a corporate level.
Here are some of the testimonials shared by our employees who have recovered from COVID-19:
‘’In the middle of feeling stressed, weak, and helpless while infected by the coronavirus, our team supported us like a true family”
Debjeet Asitkumar Das, Associate Data Scientist
“Thanks to the HR team, Support team, Demand Gen team, and my manager Naveen for checking on me daily and helping wherever required. I truly appreciate that. We are #InItTogether”
Sayantan Dasgupta, Director of Demand Generation
“Recovery from covid needs mental strength and moral support. Luckily, I am with an organization that has employee wellbeing as its core value”
Manoj Kumar Raju, Senior Data Science Engineer
The People Team at Gramener reached out to all employees individually right from the onset of the pandemic to check on their wellbeing. It urged managers to be more empathetic, drive motivation, and stay connected with the team during the crisis.
Further, our seamless remote onboarding enabled 99 new joiners from March 2020 to become a part of the Gramener Team.
Always Keeping the Fun Element Alive
By conducting lively virtual sessions and activities such as the Fun Fridays and Gramener Club celebrations, we ensure that our employees do not burn out from work stress. There are always moments to connect with the team and unwind.
With Rhapsody 4.0, we took our annual event on a virtual platform for the first time in 11 years. We hired an MC, hosted a stage performance with an illusionist, and invited families of employees to attend the show. It was a 3-hour long power-packed evening filled with enthusiasm and hope for a bright future in the hearts of all our employees.
Our employees are our goldmine. We treasure each one of them and make sure that they stay well at all levels of their being – mind, body, and spirit. We regularly conduct powerful sessions that guide our employees towards boosting immunity, managing emotional health, and staying positive during the crisis. Above all, we are all in it together, if the night is here, the day isn’t far away.
